Biochar Symposium Wednesday, September 1st, 2010 9:30 am - 3:30 pm - Biochar and Carbon Sequestration - Illinois Sustainable Technology Center - University of Illinois

Biochar Symposium
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010
9:30 am - 3:30 pm
Stephen J. Warner Conference Room
Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (Directions)

Register for the symposium

This symposium is an opportunity to learn about the latest biochar research in the Midwest, exchange ideas, and discuss ways to collaborate on future projects. The symposium will feature presentations on biochar production, properties, and use in agricultural environments.

This event is sponsored by the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, a division of the Institute of Natural Resource Sustainability at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It is free and open to the public. However, registration is required. There will be a cost of $12 for the catered luncheon, or you may bring your own lunch. For those wishing to join us for the catered sandwich/salad buffet luncheon (includes beverage and dessert), please fill in the appropriate box on the registration form. All registrations are due by Wed. August 25, 2010.

Please e-mail Nancy Holm (nholm@istc.illinois.edu) with any questions.

Agenda

Biochar: Production, Properties, and Agricultural Use

Sept. 1, 2010
9:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

9 - 9:30 am
Continental Breakfast (9:05 am - optional tour of ISTC laboratories)

9:30 am
Welcome and Background on Biochar - Nancy Holm and Kishore Rajagopalan, ISTC

9:50 am
Catie Brewer - Iowa State University, Ames, IA - Biochar Characterization and Engineering

10:35 am
Kurt Spokas - USDA, St. Paul, MN - Impacts of Biochar Additions on Soil Microbial Processes and Nitrogen Cycling

11:20 am
Paul Wever - Chip Energy, Inc., Goodfield, IL - Biochar Production and Feedstock Effects

Noon - 1:00 pm
Catered lunch (12:35 pm - optional tour of ISTC laboratories)

1:00 pm
Steve Heilmann - Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN - Biochar from Hydrothermal Carbonization of Microalgae and Distiller's Grains

1:45 pm
Akwasi Boateng - USDA, Philadelphia, PA - Physicochemical and Absorptive Properties of Fast Pyrolysis Biochars and their Steam-Activated Counterparts

2:30 pm
Wei Zheng - ISTC, Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign - Current and Future Biochar Research at ISTC

3:00 - 3:30 pm
Summary and Discussion - Kishore Rajagopalan, ISTC


Biochar and Carbon Sequestration

Global climate change and uncertain fossil oil reserves are two major energy, economic, and environmental challenges of our time. Fossil fuels as non-renewable energy resources will eventually be exhausted in the foreseeable future due to finite reserves and rapidly increasing energy demands of modern societies. Also, there is growing scientific consensus that the current climate change is attributed to the large emissions of greenhouse gases associated with the extensive use of fossil fuels.

Scientists at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) are exploring an innovative way to off-set fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions: using pyrolysis at low temperatures to convert waste biomass into valuable products. Pyrolysis is a thermochemical conversion process where waste biomass is heated in the absence of oxygen to produce a series of energy products such as bio-oil, syngas, and biochar. Bio-oil and syngas can be captured and used as energy carriers. Also, bio-oil can be used at petroleum refineries as a feedstock that is greenhouse-gas-neutral and renewable.

Biochar can be used as a fuel or as a soil amendment. When used as a soil amendment, biochar can boost soil fertility, prevent soil erosion, and improve soil quality by raising soil pH, trapping moisture, attracting more beneficial fungi and microbes, improving cation exchange capacity, and helping the soil hold nutrient. Moreover, biochar is a more stable nutrient source than compost and manure. Therefore, biochar as a soil amendment can increase crop yields, reduce the need for chemical fertilizers, and minimize the adverse environmental effects of agrochemicals on the environment.

Another potentially enormous environmental benefit associated with biochar used in soil is that it can sequester atmospheric carbon. In the natural carbon cycle, plants take up CO2 from the atmosphere as they grow, and subsequently CO2 is emitted when the plant matter decomposes rapidly after the plants die. Thus, the overall natural cycle is carbon neutral. In contrast, pyrolysis can lock up this atmospheric carbon as biochar for long periods (e.g., centurial or even millennial time scales). Considering CO2 is pulled from air to make biochar, the net process is carbon negative. Therefore, the biochar approach is an attractive solution to alleviating global warming concerns. James Lovelock, famous for his Gaia hypothesis, is now advocating biochar as "One last chance to save mankind".

ISTC's biochar studies include: production of biochar from a variety of waste biomass, characteristics of biochar, biochar for sustainable agriculture, and potential environmental implication associated with biochar use. For more information on ISTC's biochar research, or if you are interested in exploring biochar production at your facility or establishing collaboration on biochar research, please contact Dr. Wei Zheng.